“Wait, do you hear that?” I turn and look in the passage behind. A familiar even, grating sound, then the dull thud. A door opened back there.
A new sound creeps to our ears.
“Is that, tiny clicking? Is it bugs?” Ash and I shine our red lights into the passage.
Within seconds a million spiders, some bigger than our hands, come scuttling around the corner, running on all surfaces—even the ceiling.
“Fuck no.” Ash turns back, takes a breath, and jumps, yelling all the way down.
I wipe sweat from my forehead, make the sign of the cross, and leap out of the passage.
Air rushes at me as I plunge into the blackness, my red light splaying everywhere. I can’t see anything but the painted walls flying past me. I pass a shadow in the stone, maybe the fake floor? Then I’m falling in an even darker place with other red beams dancing over me.
I bounce on something thin and sticky, like a thousand strings, clutching me like a hammock. I gently rebound up and down a few times, slowing to a stop. But I don’t see what’s holding me—I look like I’m floating in thin air. I struggle to look around, but my head, body, arms and legs are securely fastened. I spot Ash past my feet, also bouncing in thin air and flailing. I can barely turn my head to the left, but I see a bare foot over there, floating in the air.
“Stop moving, Sis, or it will confine you even more.”
“Nice for you guys to finally join us,” Torrent’s voice is coming from somewhere past my head.
“What is this shit?” Ash stills. We’re both lying face up. She looks so weird just floating there, arms and legs out, nothing holding her body, like a marionette held taut.
“As far as we can make out, some kind of invisible thread, maybe, woven into a net and sticking to our skin.” Dr. Mara’s voice is below me.
“Oh, fuck, from the spiders,” Ash’s voice rises. “Millions of them, spiders are coming. From up there.” She points to the passageway we just left.
“Oh my god, are these spider webs we’re caught in?” Tage sounds from somewhere to my left and below. “I’m face-down, I can’t see anything,” she shrieks.
“Chill, Tage, we’ll figure this out,” Smoke’s voice has a little waver.
“Spider webs? Yes, that makes sense. Only they’re invisible; must be some kind of magic. It could be something about this chamber that we’re in. A way to keep other out. Stay calm, team, think.”
“What is there to think about? We can’t even see to read the glyphs on the walls—we’re stuck.” Tage’s tone is shrill. “Oh my god, are those white things below us bones? We’re all going to die here.”
“Zip it, soldier. I can’t see what’s below, but we’re not going to die. Use your powers, soldiers—all your abilities, including your minds.”
“The more we struggle, the more tightly bound we become,” Smoke says. “So we have to remain still. Can anyone see the walls at all?”
A chorus of no’s echo about the chamber.
Sparks of flame pop out of Ash’s hands, but they’re small and die out. “Damn, I can’t get enough fire out, it’s like this shit is stopping me somehow. My flames won’t come.”
I try focusing on the stone wall. I can barely see it, but in my red light is the unmistakable bright and vibrant Egyptian art; the ancient’s magic. Nothing happens.
“I’m getting nothing from my earth power. And, I think I hear them coming.” The tiny skittering grows louder above me.
“Nothing here, my water won’t work, not even a sliver of ice.”
We’re all silent, several thin red beams trained onto the walls above. Soon they shiver with activity as the tiny creatures crawl down. Then they branch out and come lowering and creeping in mid-air all above me.
“They’re coming down into the middle of the room on invisible webs.” For some reason I’m letting everyone know what’s happening. I think I have the best view. The spiders look strange, skimming and lowering on nothing but the air. As if they can fly and hover.
The tiny, moving shadows split into larger groupings, clumping as they lower. I’ve never seen spiders act like this. Are they real? It’s like my brain isn’t acknowledging that I’m about to die.
One group of spiders lowers right down to me, slowing as they come. Another hoard hangs directly over Ash.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a few more bee-like swarms of spiders continue moving below me. The group above my face has slowed even more, as if to draw out my torture, watching them come closer and closer, moving methodically. My heart is racing, my nerves screaming at me to struggle, to tear out of this, but I control my body with all my will, keeping still.
“Fuck! Dammit! Shit.” Ash struggles so much she’s becoming more and more constricted, tiny sparks light from her fingers. It’s so weird, seeing one arm get pasted behind her back, the other stuck to her front, with nothing visible holding her. Soon her cussing muffles as she’s forced to stop moving because she can’t.
Oh Lord, it’s awful. Please help us!
“Oh my god—oh my god—they’re all over me,” Tage screams, then goes abruptly silent. Mumblings and mufflings whisper all around me.
I can only stare at the thousands of colorful spiders lowering over my face and body, going slower as they descend, coming right down onto me, blackening my vision.
Chapter Forty
A thousand tiny feet touch my skin and crawl like millions of goose bumps. My body is slowly being bound—my feet brought together, my arms coming to my sides, my body turning slowly as if on a spit. I’m trembling and breathing hard. I close my eyes against all the spiders on my face, but as my body turns to face downward, I take a quick peek. There is nothing I can do. My friends struggled and they are still in the same predicament as me. My red beam shines on several more bodies, covered in dots moving all over them, as they rotate like meat on a spit.
I close my eyes again as claws move over my face. Are they dropping me to the ground? I think my body is being gently lowered as I turn round and round. I keep waiting for hundreds of piercing bites, but instead the skittering just scrambles all over my body, face, and head. I keep my mouth clamped tight, hoping against hope, they don’t climb into my nose or ears. I huff out from my nose when any get too close.
This is surreal, dying this way. Will they all bite me and kill me? Will it be poisonous? Will I just fall asleep? What if the poison is super painful, like horrible torture, and I can’t move? What if they leave us all here for another time, and we slowly die of starvation or suffocation? My pulse races even faster.
There’s an overwhelming feeling that there is nothing I can do. I’m not in control; none of us are. All we can do is relax and accept our fate.
This is it, then. Please help it be quick and painless, God. Good-bye, Maow. Good-bye Matta and Virina—I’ll see you soon.
The turning and lowering is so slow, the movement begins to lull my senses, like I’m a baby being rocked. Maybe they’re injecting me with sleepiness …
I don’t know how long this goes on, it seems like forever. My eyes are sealed shut, there’s pressure on my face except my nose. I can breathe, but I don’t think I can stop them if they decide to go up my nose.
Oh God, I’m being mummified by spiders. This will be our Egyptian tomb forever.
I think falling asleep might be the best option. Just as I’m lulled into a stupor, a gentle thump and my body is dropped onto a cool, hard surface. Probably stone. Another thump and something presses against my feet. Ash maybe since she was nearest to me.
The creeping over my body has dissipated as the pressure of invisible webbing covers me like a mummy’s wrappings. Now I don’t feel anything. But I can hear breathing all around. We must all be wrapped tight and laid on the ground.
I never thought I’d go out like this.
Wait a minute, I’m lying on the floor! A tiny spark of hope lights in me. Dear God, please don’t let this stone floor be magicked in any way.
I will my foc
us into the ground below me.
After several seconds, the stone seems to open, separate, and I’m sinking into the density of solid rock. Quartz. The sharpness of the crystal dotted throughout the granite tug and tear all over the web that’s across my body.
I direct myself to descend just a few feet, then gently raise me back to the surface. The rock becomes thick and solid below me again. But my body is freed from the webbing. I open my eyes and scramble to my feet, wiping the invisible strands off me. No more spiders are lurking around. My red light shines over the others, resting like dead bodies all around me, eyes closed. The clear webbing is so thick I can kind of see a whiteness around everyone, dulling their features.
I bring out my sharp knife, flipping it open.
“Stay calm, everyone, I’m out. I’ll cut you free.” I double-check the walls and floor and above my head. “The spiders are gone.”
I work slowly on Ash so I don’t cut her, using my hands to feel the invisible threads. After I cut enough of her bonds, I help her to her feet, brushing the last bits of the sticky stuff off.
“That was god-awful.” Her tan face is pale in the light of her palm flame. “Am I glad my fire is back. Flames are a part of me now and I really don’t like being without them.”
“Come on, help me free the others.”
Ash douses her fire, retrieves her knife, and slowly we cut everyone free. They’re all shaken and quiet, as if roused from the sleep of death.
“Let’s not stay here, Team, something will be coming back.” The doctor is scared. “Look around for a way out. Tage, help me check the hieroglyphs.”
We set to work without talking, moving quickly.
I scan the floor. It’s the first unpainted stone flooring we’ve seen. The walls are covered, though. I move along the cool surface, touching it here and there, sensing the solid ground beneath. I make my way around the room.
“Here, it’s hollow underneath right here. This is our way out, I think.” I’m leaning against a wall. This large stone block has air beneath it. I examine the wall but don’t see the earth sign anywhere. I reach and place my palms on the floor slab, close my eyes and concentrate on moving it. After several silent seconds, it rumbles beneath my hands, swinging down like a trapdoor. “Got it.”
“Don’t go in, yet, we’re still looking for the confession,” Dr. Mara reads aloud from the wall. “This chamber belongs to the ‘Pale One of Heliopolis.’ It looks like the sin is ‘slander and gossiping.’”
“Here is the confession, I found it.” Tage is excited. “I can read part of it.”
The doctor joins her to help read the wall, and we repeat the words after them in serious tones.
“Hail, Tenemiu, who comest forth from Bast, I have not slandered.”
“Can we go now?” Tage looks up and around.
“Yeah, let’s blow.” Torrent leads the way to the open trapdoor.
“Yes, soldiers. Ash and Ridge first.”
Ash flames her light and she and I drop into the shaft. We bend our knees to land, it’s about a normal room’s height. Dust kicks up, and we’re brushing invisible cobwebs out of our faces.
Or is it my imagination?
The dark passage narrows and goes back into the darkness, away from the spider room. We line up and walk as quickly as we can, our red beams on, Ash giving orange light from her fire.
Though it’s dark and small, even these surfaces, all of them, are covered in the ancient art and writings. Why don’t they ever give us a break?
I guess they did, though, with the unpainted floors in that last room. At least that’s something. I’m exhausted. I wonder if we did get a little drugged back there?
The passage slopes up after a while, ending in a stone wall. I put my hand on the familiar sign, and the door rumbles to the left.
Ash steps into the large square chamber and lights the braziers.
Finally, some real light.
“Halt, soldiers.” We obey immediately. Ash rejoins us in the dark passage. “I know it’s tight in here, but we’re not ready for another trap. Time for a break. Let’s set up camp, too. We need real rest.”
“Yeah, after the croc room,” Torrent adds.
“And after the spiders.” Tage shudders. “I’m spent.”
I breathe my relief as I find a dusty spot to sit and lean against the wall. It doesn’t take long before everyone, except the doctor, is dropping off to sleep, not even hungry. The last thing I notice are the orange flames from the brightly-lit chamber spilling across Ash’s face.
Chapter Forty-One
I wake with a start, sitting up. Everyone is sleeping—everyone. No one’s on watch. The room is dark. I jump to my feet, looking around, but everything is just as it was, the warm light shining from the room next to us.
I sit back down and make hot, mint tea with my tiny camping stove, keeping an eye and ear alert. As the comforting drink touches my lips, everyone else begins to stir.
“Doctor, I woke and no one was on watch,” I say.
She sits quickly, her eyes attentive. “We must have all fallen asleep too fast. I think those spiders must have poisoned us, making us sleepy.”
I nod. It felt like that, like I was drugged. “I woke up a few minutes ago, but everything’s quiet.”
“Thank God. We got lucky that time. We can’t take a chance like that again.” The doctor checks that everyone is listening. “From now on we keep watch anytime we break. I’ll always go first, Smoke second. Then Tage, Ash, Torrent and Ridge.”
Everyone is finding food from their packs: granola bars, nuts, dried fruit, tea or coffee. It’s small, dark and dusty out here. We pass some to Ash, who lost most of her supplies to the magical crocodiles. I gaze into the warmly-lit chamber. I notice that we only have a few more days worth of supplies. Once we’re ready, our trash burned in Ash’s small campfire, we ready ourselves and file into the room.
It’s of medium-size, about six meters to a wall. The ceiling goes up pretty high, but not as high as the last two rooms. I can easily scan the ceiling painted artwork on it.
There’s a narrow trench skirting the floor, about a half meter in from the walls. “Torrent, is this another water channel?” I beckon to the tall boy.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t look deep. I’ll search for the water sign.” He glances about the room. “This channel doesn’t go into the walls like the other ones. It forms a perfect square.”
“Yeah, that’s weird.”
The others are reading the glyphs on the walls, searching for clues and rites. I look over the artwork on the floor in the middle of the room.
“Here it is, Dr. Mara.” Tage has gotten good enough at reading that they can split up and check the rooms faster. “This is it.”
The doctor joins her. “You’re right, Tage. Can you read it aloud?”
Tage reads slowly. “This room belongs to … ‘the Fire-Embracer of … ‘Khe-ra-ha.’”
“Excellent, Tage. What sin does he judge?”
“Um, does it say ‘robbery’?”
“Yes, you got it, soldier.” Dr. Mara smiles. “The confession is right below. Everyone, repeat the confession after Tage. Stay sharp.”
“’Hail, Hept-khet … who comest forth from … Kher-aha … I have not committed robbery … with violence.’”
Our words echo as we repeat them.
Ash is frowning. “It can’t be this easy.”
A grinding sounds, making us jump as the door we entered closes with a thud. We turn toward the door on the opposite side of the room. It doesn’t move. I crawl over the trench and then search for the earth symbol.
A roaring flash of heat and light and I’m jerked back by my pack. I fall onto Torrent on the ground. A wall of flames skirts the room, shooting hot and high from the narrow channel in the floor.
“Fire-Embracer! his room belongs to the Fire-Embracer,” Tage shouts as we all gather in the middle. But the wall of flames is too close, and I’m already sweating like crazy.
>
“Right, well it’s not the only fucking fire-embracer.” Ash stands before the flames by the door out, extending her arms. Sparks pop from her fingers, and the wall of fire shoots higher and hotter. “Damn!” Ash keeps trying. The rest of us are shedding our layers and headstrap lights as fast as we can, getting down to our undies. My skin is glistening, and Tage’s pale skin on her arms are glowing reddish-pink.
But the roar gets louder as the flames reach higher, slowly cooking us at the center of the room.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Fuck, fuck fuck,” Ash shouts, shaking her hands. She’s the only one not sweating. With each curse, the flames flare even higher.
“Ash, calm down,” Smoke shouts. “I think your anger is making it worse.” Even his light brown skin is turning red.
Torrent is by Ash’s side in a flash. He puts his arm around her shoulders for a moment. Then he pours out his water flask and tries to manipulate the water above his palms.
What’s he going to do with that tiny bit? We can’t empty all our water or we won’t make it. Even that wouldn’t be enough. Sweat is falling into my eyes. I tie my bandana around my forehead.
Torrent shoots the water ball at the fire, but it sizzles into nothing. He scoots away from the burning inferno, grabbing Ash’s hand and pulling her back.
Blisters form on my skin as the pain sears my whole body. I cry out, and Tage whimpers. We bunch as close as we can in the middle, but it doesn’t seem to help. Smoke pours his water onto everyone’s heads. The cool anointing gives life, and I close my eyes as the tiny rivulets pour down my face. Too little, it’s not enough. The heat slams into me and the water evaporates off my skin.
Torrent jumps to us. “Everyone, give me your water, and stand closer together. Ash, start pouring—quick.”
Ash is like lightning, grabbing our water flasks as we hand them over. She begins pouring them over us as Torrent positions us close together, face in, then freezes the water cascading down our red bodies. The ice is cool, becoming a misty-clear tent blanket over us all. The cold is healing, removing pain, helping my skin become blessedly numb.
Earth Guardian (Deities Series Book 2) Page 13
